*cough! cough!* BERABUK DAAA...

Is that a cobweb I see? Ish, ish, ish... pemalas sungguh diriku ini.. dah genap 2 bulan tak buat entry...

* saya dengan ini mengaku bersalah kerana malas nak meng-update blog *

I must confess that I was not in the daily diary writing bandwagon.. I never keep a journal, so that must be it then.. sigh, I so want to maintain this blog.. to upload pix and stories.. stories which I could never remember later..

note to self: must remember to bring digi cam memory card next week.. boss will be away, time to upload pix... better than bergayut on phone what! cheaper summore...

RAMADHAN

Dah 8 hari berpuasa... one thing about my workplace, is that Ramadhan or not, the knock off time is still 6pm.. sigh.. by the time I reach home, just enough time to wash my hands, sit at the dining table - then berbuka puasa time...

Emran and hubby have been assigned to take care of the acara berbuka puasa... anything they buy, I eat.. I cook for sahur though, coz the idea of eating 'tapau' food in the wee hour is simply intolerable!

Selamat berpuasa dan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri..

*bercuti dari blogging during Ramadhan.

MUFFINS AND PIZZAS

close-up on muffins

Made muffins last nite.. 2 batches in fact, orange and mocha chocolate chip. Hubby's office is having weekly flea market, so this is 'his' contribution to the staff club..

mocha choc chips muffins & orange muffins to go

Emran picking out the veges, naughty boy!

Uncooked pizzas ready for the oven

Yum yum chicken, capsicum, mushroom & onion pizza

Emran loves pizza.. I can make pizza 24-7, I don't think he would complain. His favourite is deep dish type ala pizza hut.. Hubby and I prefer the thin crusted ones like Domino's, apakan daya demi si putera kenit tu, kena la ikut selera dia..

For the crust, I used recipe from cooking engineer.com, very easy peasy, put everthing in the bread machine.. voila! dan siap.. I know, I know, cheating katanya.. tapi tak larat le nak menguli-uli la wehhh... yang syoknya, pepagi before setting off to work, dumped everything in, set the timer... balik rumah that evening, took the dough out, divide into two portions, yadayada.. Ting! boleh makan hot piping homemade pizzas in 40 min.. yummmmm

JALAN-JALAN KAT MELAKA

Emran & Daddy at Ayer Keroh Lake - mommy tak leh join coz no ruang!

Pegi Melaka for wedding of hubby's friend... lepas makan and lepak, pegi menjemput diri sendiri ke my cousin's house in bukit beruang.. Luckily he was home and di paksa menerima tetamu tak di undang for overnight stay.. Nak buat camne, I cousin lagi tua dan pangkat kakak, so nasib la ko Qadir, kena gave-up his double bed lagi for us three... kah kah kah.. tak pe, next time ko dtg sini, kakak masak best2 utk ko.. InsyaAllah


Emran at Umbai Ikan Bakar Jetty

After an hour at the lake, we decided to have ikan bakar at Umbai. We arrived shortly after 7, and the sun was setting. Crowd was sparsed, so food was quickly ordered and served. This placed is most crowded after 8pm up till late.. parking is limited so it is best to arrive earlier.. Since we were musafirs, maghrib was not a problem.

Di sebabkan kelaparan and/or dah memang dasar kuat makan, sampai terlupa nak click camera gambar seafood yang sungguh menyelerakan.. and we definitely need our fingers to korek those sumptious ketams dan udangs so how to pegang camera, kan? Hmmmm sedapnya ikan bakar, ketam masak cili, kupang berlada, udang bakar, sotong goreng tepung... and sweet refreshing air kelapa.. oh, not forgetting the delicious otak-otak melaka.. BURP! Alhamdulillah... All for rm70 jer..

note to self - since al-qadir sungguh la baik hati *read - paksa rela by the pushy older cousin* boleh la plan for the next trip to umbai soon.. accommodation udah beres!

MASAKAN KAMPUNG

Last Tuesday, during my papa-inlaw visit to mak's house, mak cooked mouth-watering kampung dishes for her bisans.. Wahhhh macam-macam lauk ada.. how come, kalau I balik kampung tak pernah pulak mak nak masak cenggini? I yang kena kerah memasak ader ler.. musykil, musykil... Lepas pekena all the ulam-ulam; selum, petai, timun, ada kerabu jawa, batang keladi masak asam, sayur campur, ikan tongkol masak lemak cili api, ayam goreng bumbu, sambal belacan and kembung goreng - tergolek la papa, his wife and son kat depan tv.. tido.. sambil tu sempat gi carik kelapa muda dan benih kelapa nak bawa balik.. I know mak must be very tired after cooking all those dishes, but as usual, she was ever so gracious to her guests.. Thank you mak, I'm sure papa and his family will cherish the memory of this visit for a long time..

yang paling best, masa tengah makan, papa mentioned that - patutla menantu dia (moi!) pandai masak, sebab mengikut mak dia.. he he he.. kembang setalam by back-side.. pastu ada ke patut mak jawab 'ye ke pandai?'.. cehhh apa la mak ni, lain kali kalau orang puji anak mak, iye kan jer la.. hampeh tul.. terus kempis back-side.. kempis sikit jer kot, coz rasa-rasanya macam kembang lebih dua talam lately nih...

SELAMAT PENGANTIN BARU AZA & MARK

Sedar-sedar, it has been a week since I updated this site... perghhh bizi la kononnya last week. Firstly, hubby is back! He he he rindu la jugak kan..

Saturday - My good friend Aza, got hitched to a mat saleh.. well, Mark is my next cubicle neighbour kat office ni hah.. And Aza is our MD's secretary.. The office romance has blossomed since forever, me think... let's see, Mark was transferred here end of 2000 kot.. Anyway, I am so happy for them both.. For both of them, this is a new beginning after previous failed marriages... Semoga bahagia ke anak-anak tiri, dan cucu-cicit tiri dan kandung.. HA HA HA...

Yang bestnya, masa majlis nikah, ahli keluarga Mark yang lelaki, datang pakai sedondon - gold baju melayu, sampin dan songok... cayalah.. habis la kecoh makcik-makcik jiran Aza main guessing games, which one is the groom? Khutbah and akad pun was done in English.. cool abis imam tuh speaking london u... It was good coz at least Mark's side can fully participate in the event.. Lepas nikah, rushed to hotel for the reception that nite.

Look at that... Awwww... Emran & Sam were given the honour to initiate the bride & groom march to the dais... punya la buas 2 manusia ni.. belum apa-apa dah berlari-lari round hall peluh-peluh lagi.. nak tunggu Aza & Mark pun lambat (biasa la pengantin...) these two started acting up.. so last-last myself and Sam's mom had to walk together with the group.. Lerr tak pasal-pasal kena participate mak-mak orang ni...

Sunday - hantar my mak balik kampung.. dah puas dah dok lepen my house for 2 weeks.. Must be missing her orchids!

Monday - early morning dah bergasak dengan Emran.. He refused to go to his sitter's house.. Alahai, kesian pulak rasanya.. So after arriving at work, went in MD's room, begged his mercy dan berjaya dapat half day holiday, plus Tue & Wed... Yeee hoooo.... Balik lunch time, fetched Emran, happy giler balik awal... And about 3pm, hubby arrived from KLIA.. lagilah happy budak dan mak budak sekali...

And Tue & Wed cuti-cuti ria bersama keluarga...

MUNCHING ON MUFFINS

Last Saturday and Sunday was the 'convo' weekends at the uni where hubby works. His ever very the rajin colleagues made everyone in the office to participate in the jualan of the fiesta. From what I heard, ada currypuffs, dadih (somewhat like yoghurt), kuih, etc, etc...

Since hubby is away (Sri Lanka & Maldives) until next Monday, I was assigned to bake muffins for the sale... hmmm the usual muffins that I bake, are rich over the top ooey&gooey full of ingredients... For sale, I definitely cannot use my usual recipe, then.. Rugi wooohhh.. Mana boleh nak jual murah.. kalau too mahal, tak laku pulak! So, I turn to my ever trusting site allrecipes.com.. macam-macam ada!

So, apa lagi, baking time... I made orange muffins, banana muffins & chocolate chip muffins.. The best is the orange muffin.. This recipe is a definite keeper.. The other two, well, so-so I have tasted better muffins thats for sure...

After I passed about 200 pieces of muffins to hubby's colleagues, I had the pleasure of munching on delicious orange muffins for breakfast on sunday morning... Heat up in microwave for 30sec, lather with butter and raspberry jam, hot cup of coffee.. aahhhhhh...

RECIPE - ORANGE MUFFIN (from allrecipec.com)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup orange juice

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

zest of one orange

Heat oven to 400 degress F (205 degrees C). Grease bottom only muffins cups or line with baking cups.

In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, orange zest and salt; mix well. In a small bowl, combine orange juice, oil and egg; blend well. Add liquid to dry ingredients all at once, stir until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy).

Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool 1 minute before removing from pan. Serve warm.

BREAD MAKING CLASS

Friday - minus 1 day of annual leave, reason : pergi kelas belajar membuat roti.. hu hu hu...

What a fun day that was! Mr Hau (the teacher) taught us 15 novice to make sweet breads and a white loaf.. Hau with his very cina-apek slang, was such a sweet man, and tak kedekut ilmu.. I rasa memang dia pening kepala dengan ragam students (more like bunch of makciks and 2 pakciks) making noises in his class.. macam tak percaya jer I bawa balik those assortment of bread home..

Emran dengan tamaknya grabbbed all the buns with sausages in them.. siap kena rebut-rebut with his aunt (my younger sister) lagi... The white loaf tastes like sandwich bread from local hypermarket.. I kena try buat kat rumah la.. Masa kelas all the uli-ing and kneading is done by the canggih machines, kat rumah I only have this cheap-o cosway breadmaker...

Well worth the RM50 I paid for the whole day class!